B.C. Open might be History

The floods that wracked the Southern Tier last week may claim another victim that was already on life support: the PGA Tour's final B.C. Open.

Scheduled July 20-23, it looks unlikely that the tournament can stage its swan song because 16 of the 18 holes at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott became lakes after the Susquehanna River overflowed last week. The same thing happened last year, in April, which left just barely enough time to get the municipal course ready for play.

Now, our good neighbors to the south have under two weeks to see if the course can be made playable. The guess here is that it won't be, and that one of two things will happen:

1. The tournament will be canceled.
2. The tournament will be moved to Turning Stone's Tom Fazio-designed Atunyote golf course, which recently hosted the 39th PGA Professional National Championship.

The former option -- cancellation -- is more likely. Putting on a PGA Tour event usually takes a full year of planning. Just picking a course a couple weeks before the event is impractical. There is the need for a massive volunteer base (would Southern Tier folks be willing to travel up to T-Stone each day ... at their own expense?), hotel accommodations, and the ability to get the course in tournament shape.

A decision on all this may be made today. PGA Tour officials and members of the players board plan to have a conference call today to decide a course of action.